Thursday, June 11, 2009

more ideas for father's day - stamped dog tag key chain

Stacy has been playing around with metal stamps lately and come up with some fun projects. We thought this one was perfect for Father's Day!

We used a metal stamping alphabet set we found at HarborFreight.com to stamp a little message on a metal dog tag. You could stamp your kids' names, "World's Best Dad," or a silly saying. I chose one of my favorite quotes from the movie Star Wars. Who doesn’t love Yoda?Beaducation.com has a great video tutorial on YouTube about metal stamping (it's a four-part tutorial, so be sure to watch all four), or it's available as a free class on their Web site. If you're new to metal stamping, check that out before beginning.

After stamping your letters, color them in with a Sharpie marker (you can use black or any other color you want). Wipe the excess marker off with a paper towel.

Attach the key ring and you've got a cool, manly key chain for Dad!

Our metal stamping set was only $7.99, but if you have a Harbor Freight retail store near you, they have them for about $6 (and no shipping charges!). You can find dog tags at your local military surplus store. We've also tried this technique on common hardware like washers for pendants (watch for that in a later post). Or you could try the sterling silver jewelry pieces available at beading stores or in the jewelry aisle in craft stores. Happy stamping!

My hubby would love this! He used to have his military dog tag as a key chain. He finally quit using it because it had his SSN on it along with a lot of personal information. Yeah, if you had gotten his keys you would have gotten his identity, too. Thanks.

I just love this idea. I bought a set of stamps but don't know where to get the metal. Did you buy the dog tags somewhere or make them yourself. I really want to do this with the kids I teach on Sunday for Father's day. Thanks so much for the idea, Janis

Super cute. I've noticed a ton of Etsy sellers with metal stamped items...but they seem to be able to stamp them and keep the item itself flat as well, which I have a hard time with. Wonder what the secret is?

I think the silver and other metals are softer and don't need as much pounding on them to get them to work so they stay flat. These were a little harder and I might have pounded a bit to hard-over zealous me :)

Oh goodness!! This is TOOOOOOOO cool!! My hubby would love this and I'd get a new crafty item to play with.....what a win-win situation! Thanks for the Harbor Freight direction....guess who is gonna make a stop there tomorrow?! :>

Nice work! I love this green little guy. This year I bought some great mizpah jewelry from http://www.giftavia.com for my dad. Now I know what to get next year. Thanks for posting and also thanks for the links to the local distributors. :-)